Thursday, 5 February 2015

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #435 Protect Childhood

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #435 Protect Childhood

Childhood is a precious thing. It doesn’t last very long and
then you’re grown up and have to face the realities and pressures of life. But
too many children already have to face these realities, and too many children
face way more than they ever should. In the western world we look back at the
Victorian period in horror and call all things dreadful ‘Dickensian’, but today
our children are growing up quicker than ever, with knowledge at their
fingertips and drugs available in schoolyards. Modern children have to be ‘taught’
their motor skills because they don’t learn these otherwise ‘natural’ abilities
through ordinary play – they’re not allowed to play anymore in the proper sense
of the word. Every minute of their day is coordinated by helicopter parents who
scurry from one destination to another offering everything from baby massage
for newborns to ballet lessons to sports to tutoring for better marks and
everything else beyond. They’re not allowed to walk along fences, climb trees,
play down at the park without supervision or do any activity alone, which is
the time a child needs to learn how to take risks, what is possible or not
possible, how to problem solve without an adult around and develop those
essential motor skills as well a social skills. What we thought we learned from
the ‘Dickensian’ period was that childhood was valuable and children needed to
be allowed to play and develop naturally. We’ve taken that away from them and
replaced it with 24/7 supervision.

In the developing world things are also grim, with children
living in poverty having to work to help support their families and get enough
food to eat. Some children are taken into child slavery or prostitution, and
girls aren’t even safe to go to school without being kidnapped by militant
groups. What kind of world is this for our children? Let’s commit to protecting
children everywhere, allow them to be children and develop naturally so they
can take on the responsibilities of adult life well prepared and ready to look
after the planet for the next generation.

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About Me

I am a writer, emerging artist, quiltmaker and public speaker. My current art installation is a work in progress, titled "1000 Flowers for the Planet". Every day, for 1000 days, I will blog one flower with a positive suggestion for how we can improve the planet - environmental, social, moral and ethical ideas. Please join me on this journey, send me your ideas for further suggestions and feel free to comment. If everyone took up only 1% of the ideas (i.e. 10 new actions), imagine the shift in the world!!
www.margaretrowe.com.au